Fountain handle for conventional broom-heads



March 21, 1961 w. J. MORRIS FOUNTAIN HANDLE FOR CONVENTIONAL BROOM-HEADS Filed Sept. 25, 1957 INVENTOR W/LL/AM J. MORR/S 4 yflv 4 4 o ATTORNEY United States Patent FOUNTAIN HANDLE FOR CONVENTIONAL BROOM-HEADS William J. Morris, P.O. Box 324, Rocky Mount, N .C. Filed Sept. 25, 1957, Ser. No. 686,058

4 Claims. (Cl. -544) The present invention relates to a fountain broom.

It is well known that fountain brushes of various constructions have been proposed for numerous purposes, but there still remains a long-felt want for an inexpensive fountain push-broom of the type for cleaning horse and cattle stalls, stables, barns, cellars, cement floors, walks and the like which require a relatively heavy head carrying tufts of stiff bristles of broom-corn, cohune palm, piassaba fiber, twigs, wire and other such-like materials commonly used for these purposes, and which broomheads are a readily available commodity.

The principal object of the present invention is the provision of a very simple and economically manufactured spray-head handle for a push-broom, having a novel construction which permits its attachment to and removal from a conventional push-broom head of any desired size with facility and celerity so as to convert the conventional broom-head into a fountain broom without modification of any kind to said broom-head which may be interchanged, reversed in position or replaced with another conventional broom-head as occasion requires.

More specifically, the novel feature of the invention resides in the construction of the spray-head and the manner of clamping the conventional broom-head thereto, wherein the spraying head is a one-piece hollow body casting substantially bulbous in form and provided with right-angular surfaces to engage against the top and one side wall or surface of the broom-head and is opposed by a clamp member slidably mounted on said body and designed to project into one of the two oblique openings in the broom-head usually provided to receive selectively the lower end of the conventional handle of said broom or to be threadedly clamped against an adjacent side wall or surface of the broom-head.

With such object in view, and other objects which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention comprises various novel features of construction and arrangement of parts such as will be set forth with particularity in the following description and the claims appended thereto.

In the drawings, which form part of the description by reference, and which illustrate one embodiment of the invention as at present devised:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the fountain push-broom in accordance with this invention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary front elevation of the pushbroom shown in Figure 1, with part of the spray-head broken away to illustrate details of construction;

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view, taken substantially on line 3-3 of Figure 2; and

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Referring to the drawings, in which like characters of reference refer to similar and like partsthroughout the several views, the invention comprises-a tubular elongated handle10 having a laterally extending upper end 10" forming a hand-grip area. The free extremity of the handle extension 10* carries a hose coupling member 11 adapted to be detachably connected with a flexible hose 12, which itself is connected with a source of water supply, preferably under pressure. A control valve 13 is disposed within the tubular handle, preferably at its juncture with its lateral extension 10*, said valve 13 being spring-loaded or biased to normally closed position and having a stem 13 projecting to an exposed position beyond the handle, as shown in Figure 1, and is located to be contacted by a finger-grip lever 14 underlying said stem 13 and pivoted at one end to the handle 10, as at M The other free end portion of the lever 14 extends in the same general direction as the handle extension 1% to be gripped by the fingers of the hand of the user gripping the extension 10*, whereby the valve 13 may be opened to any desired degree by a squeezing operation of said hand of the user, or may be closed by releasing the lever.

The lower end of the handle 10 is provided with a spray-head 15 which is connected to the handle in any suitable manner that will assure against relative rotation during the sweeping operation. The spray-head 15 is formed to provide a rearwardly inclined tubular upper portion a that is connected to the lower end of the tubu lar handle 10 and with an underlying rearwardly extending shoulder or surface b, the tubular portion a terminating in a downwardly directed chambered flange or lip c disposed at the forward edge of the spray-head. The inner surface a of said flange or lip c is in a plane at substantially right angles to the plane of the surface b so that the surface b will rest upon and bear against the top surface of a broom-head 16 and the surface d will bear against a side face of the broom-head as shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3. The surfaces b and d of the sprayhead are preferably of much greater width than the diameter of the tubular upper portion a of the sprayhead, in order to afford a clamping jaw of substantial area for binding or grippingthe broom-head 16, as will be momentarily explained.

The bottom wall e of the chambered flange c is preferably semi-circular or crescent-shaped and provided with a multiplicity of spaced holes or small apertures 15 arranged in spoke-like fashion to direct the spray therefromalong the length of the broom-head 16.

The spray-head 15, as shown, has been formed of a casting but may be formed in any other desired manner so long as the features above described are preserved.

As stated above, the spray-head 15 is adapted to be detachably secured to conventional broom-heads and, to this end, a threaded stud 17 projects rearwardly from the tubular portion a of the spray-head 15 in a plane above the surface b thereof and is of a length as will accommodate the spray-head to broom-heads of different widths. Since most all broom-heads 16 are initially manufactured with two openings 16* disposed midway of their length and arranged obliquely in opposite directions, so that one of said openings may be selected for the insertion therein of the lower end of a broom-handle, a clamping ing or jaw 18 is provided with an aperture 18 which slidably receives the stud 17.. This lug 18 is formed with a depending finger 18' extending obliquely therefrom and of a length and diameter that will be accommodated into one of the openings 16 in the broom-head 16. A thumb nut 19 is threaded on the stud 17 to hold and bind the lug 18 in cooperative relation with the surfaces b and d of the spray-head 15.

To assemble the conventional broom-head 16 on the spray-head 15, the wing nut 19 is threaded outwardly on the stud 17 to provide sufficient clearance for the broom:

, ly moved into position so that its top surface will bear upon the surface b of the spray-head and its forward side wall or face will be moved into contact with the surface d of the spray-head, this movement of the broomhead' carrying the lug 18 to the full-line position shown in Figures 1 and 2; and, upon threading the wing nut 19 inwardly of the stud 17, it is brought to bear firmly against the rear face of the lug 18, thereby exerting sufiicient force on the assembled parts to clamp and bind them together. It will be observed that the angularity of the finger 18 is such that, when the parts are so assembled and bound together, the broom-head is prevented from moving in any direction between the clamping surfaces of the device.

As a further precaution, a thumb screw 20 is threadedly disposed transversely in the lower wall portion e of the chambered flange or lip c of the spray-head and is pointed at its free end to bite into the softer material (usually wood) of the broom-head, thus insuring against any movement of the broom-head in the spray-head when the parts are clamped together.

Should, for any reason, the broom-head not be provided with the usual handle openings 16, or should the handle openings have become marred and unusable for clamping purposes as above described, the free extremity of the finger 18 is provided with a flat end surface 18 substantially perpendicular to the stud 17, which will contact and bear against the rear side wall or surface s of the broom-head 16 and firmly hold the same in position in the spray-head 15. In such event, the thumb screw 20 serves its most useful purpose.

The broom-head may be quickly and readily removed for reversing or replacing by a reverse operation of the clamping parts above described and without necessitating the use of any tools or extraneous implements.

From the above, it is manifest that a fountain broom is provided by the above invention which attains all of the objects above mentioned and which is extremely simple and inexpensive to manufacture and requires no modification of or structural change in the conventional broom-heads readily available as a market commodity; and that these broom-heads may be-removed and replaced by others of the same or different sizes without any modification to the spray-handle means of the present invention; that the spray is not through the broom, but that the spray-head is positioned to direct its spray forwardly of the advance of the broom during its sweeping movement and, if of sufiicient force, tends to loosen the dirt or other matter desired to be removed prior to the action thereon by the broom. Also, during the use of the broom, if it is desired to have the spray continuous during the brushing operation, a pivoted loop link 21 is provided on the extension handle Id into which the free end of the lever 14 may be extended, thereby holding the valve 13 open without the necessity for the operator continually to grip the lever 14.

Having thus described the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the exact construction herein shown and described as it is susceptible of modification and variation that falls within the scope of the appended claims.

That which is claimed, as new and to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1.,A fountain-spray device for conventional pushbroom heads comprising a chambered body; a tubular handle, through which a fluid supply may pass, rigidly V a 4 coupled to said body and communicating directly with the chamber in said body; said body being formed with a rearwardly extending off-set portion providing substantially right-angular exterior surfacesagainst which two surfaces of a conventional broom-head may abut, respectively, to position said body thereon with a portion contiguously overlying the broom-head and with the other portion extending downwardly along the front side surface of the broom-head when applied thereto; a stud projecting rearwardly from said body; a clamping member slidably and adjustably mounted on said stud and positioned for cooperative clamping opposition with one of said right-angular surfaces thereby to receive and clamp therebetween said conventional broom-head, and adjustable means on said stud to move and hold said clamping member in clamping position, the lower end of the said downwardly extending front portion of said body being arcuately convexed about a fore-and-aft axis, said arcuate end having spray openings extending therethrough and arranged in a spaced radially diverging series about said axis, whereby a fan-like spray may be supplied in front of and along a broom-head.

2. A fountain-spray device for conventional pushbroom heads comprising a chambered body; a tubular handle, through which a fluid supply may pass, rigidly coupled to said body; said body being formed with a rearwardly extending off-set portion providing substantially right-angular exterior surfaces against which two surfaces of a conventional broom-head may abut, respectively, to position said body thereon with a portion contiguously overlying the broom-head and with the other portion extending downwardly along the front side sur face of the broom-head when applied thereto; a stud projecting rearwardly from said body, a clamping member slidably and adjustably mounted on said stud and positioned for cooperative clamping opposition to said body surface engageable with the front of said broomhead and including a portion extending obliquely toward said last-mentioned body surface and dimensioned to be received in one of the oblique openings usually provided in push-broom heads, thereby to exert a pressure upon said broom-head to move and clamp the latter between it and both of said right-angular surfaces of said body, said downwardly extending front portion of said body having spray openings therein communicating with said chambered portion of said body and positioned to direct a fluid discharged therefrom toward the surface to be cleaned by the broom-head.

3. The subject matter of claim'l wherein the stud is threaded and projects normal to the plane of said body surface that is engageable with the front side of the broom-head, when applied to the latter, and wherein said clamping member includes a cylindrical finger-portion extending through the plane of the other of said surfaces and projecting obliquely toward said body surface engageable by the front side of the broom-head and dimensioned to be received in one of the openings usually provided in push-broom heads, and wherein said adjusting means is a thumb-nut threaded on the stud.

4. A fountain handle for conventional push-broomheads comprising an elongated tubular handle equipped with a hose coupling at its upper end and with a sprayhead rigidly mounted upon its lower end, said spray-head comprising a hollow body casting substantially bulbous in form and in direct communication with said hollow handle, said body having the lower portion thereof undercut to provide right-angular exterior surfaces to engage against the top and one side surface of a conventional push-broom-head, one of said right-angular surfaces of said body being positioned at an obtuse angle and the other of said surfaces being at an acute angle relative to said handle, the portion of the body forming said obtuse surface with the handle having downwardly directed spray openings therein, a threaded stud carried by and projecting rearwardly from said body substantially normal to the plane of said obtuse surface and above said surfaces, a clamping member slidably mounted on said stud and extending through the plane of said acute surface and having a depending finger portion extending finger into contact with said two right-angular surfaces on said body member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Nowotny Oct. 11, Burkhart Apr. 29, Flack July 10, Pomfret Dec. 29, Davis Dec. 17, Lindberg June 10,

FOREIGN PATENTS France May 5, Italy Feb. 10, 

